Seriously, I had to look this up, I had no idea there was a rival Mog.

You live and learn, eh?

Me too. Never heard of the weird fat Mog. Scandalised.

Showing our age and having no kids, that's all it is. I suppose if - like Jon - you had kids in the late 1990s/any 2000s, you would know about the impostor Mog through them. Or if you were an adult who just likes watching kids' TV, either way. I'm not surprised I didn't know, because I don't fall into either of those two groups.

Although I do think that Judith Kerr would be frantically rotating in her grave, if she was dead and could somehow read this thread from beyond the grave, which she isn't in. Yes.

Gavin Chipper wrote:Just seen on the Wikipedia that Mog died of old age in 2002, so how is she in an advert in 2015?

Do you not follow my links? I made it perfectly clear several posts ago. It is a commercial decision.

Yes. I have been to that page, but you can't just bring a cat back to life because it makes sense commercially. Otherwise they would have brought Elvis back. Is "CGI character" a euphemism for "reanimated corpse"?

Gavin Chipper wrote:Just seen on the Wikipedia that Mog died of old age in 2002, so how is she in an advert in 2015?

Do you not follow my links? I made it perfectly clear several posts ago. It is a commercial decision.

Yes. I have been to that page, but you can't just bring a cat back to life because it makes sense commercially. Otherwise they would have brought Elvis back. Is "CGI character" a euphemism for "reanimated corpse"?

What world do you live in? Is it all swirly nice things that comfort you in your hour of need? Is it lovely?

I don't even know how to respond to this. I thought you were well-informed on these matters.

JimBentley wrote:Showing our age and having no kids, that's all it is. I suppose if - like Jon - you had kids in the late 1990s/any 2000s, you would know about the impostor Mog through them.

Which Mog are you calling impostor? I read fucking Meg & Mog books when I was at infant school, dickhead.

Guess that explains how fucking stupid you are then, I'd always wondered. You couldn't be trusted with the real Mog, it might have shattered your fucking tiny brain into pieces. You were force-fed a ripped-off, diluted, commercialised version instead because you couldn't handle the political unorthodoxy of Judith Kerr's stories. And you think it's good!

Don't fuck with me, you idiotic cunt, or I'll expose your paedophilic love all over the internet. You know I've got the evidence and you know I can expose you at the drop of a hat. By choice, I think the hat should be a fez, or maybe a trilby.

I've watched a couple of episodes of series 6 of Red Dwarf that I stumbled upon on Dave. The first six series were all very good in my opinion. But it jumped the shark in series 7. And series 8 was just a bad joke.

Gavin Chipper wrote:I've watched a couple of episodes of series 6 of Red Dwarf that I stumbled upon on Dave. The first six series were all very good in my opinion. But it jumped the shark in series 7. And series 8 was just a bad joke.

Definitely. Series 1-3 were very, very good (especially Polymorph, which remains my favourite episode), series 4 and 5 were excellent. Series 6 had its moments but wasn't quite as good as 4 or 5, series 7 took itself too seriously and series 8 just descended into farce. Luckily, much of series 10 was a real return to form, and I have cautiously high hopes for series 11 and 12 (which they're filming now).

Gavin Chipper wrote:I've watched a couple of episodes of series 6 of Red Dwarf that I stumbled upon on Dave. The first six series were all very good in my opinion. But it jumped the shark in series 7. And series 8 was just a bad joke.

Definitely. Series 1-3 were very, very good (especially Polymorph, which remains my favourite episode), series 4 and 5 were excellent. Series 6 had its moments but wasn't quite as good as 4 or 5, series 7 took itself too seriously and series 8 just descended into farce. Luckily, much of series 10 was a real return to form, and I have cautiously high hopes for series 11 and 12 (which they're filming now).

I'm not sure what to make of series 10. I think the episodes were OK but there seemed to be no explanation of what was going on after all the bullshit that went on after series 6. It was like they just decided to forget everything and carry on as normal.

Rob Grant left after series 6. that's why it went shit. I'd rate 6 better than 4 actually. Legion is one of the best written episodes ever. Really hard to pick an overall favourite episode though, too many good ones.

Fair enough genius is probably too strong but in terms of being able to do broad populist humour the man is leagues ahead of anyone else. Compare his stuff to the tripe that is Mrs Brown's Boys or Miranda.

Finally got round to watching series 5 and 6 of Archer. Series 5 was a chore - the new set-up was tedious - while Series 6 was better and definitely benefited from returning to the spy agency side of things, but it's still not up to the levels of the first 3 series. The lack of Woodhouse in particular was a huge void (probably my favourite character </3 ).

Now rewatching the first three series, which may well be my favourite series of any show. Really wish more people watched it

proud tiara owner and annoying publicity person who tells you to click links to the the FOCAL website.

Jennifer Steadman wrote:Finally got round to watching series 5 and 6 of Archer. Series 5 was a chore - the new set-up was tedious - while Series 6 was better and definitely benefited from returning to the spy agency side of things, but it's still not up to the levels of the first 3 series. The lack of Woodhouse in particular was a huge void (probably my favourite character </3 ).

Now rewatching the first three series, which may well be my favourite series of any show. Really wish more people watched it

Gavin Chipper wrote:Also, as this series of Peep Show progresses, the more I think it's actually pretty weak.

Nothing special about tonight's episode either. This series has got "forgettable" written all over it. Very little time left to turn it around. Well, it's one episode isn't it? Even changing the theme tune back to the proper one for the last episode is unlikely to save it.

Jennifer Steadman wrote:Finally got round to watching series 5 and 6 of Archer. Series 5 was a chore - the new set-up was tedious - while Series 6 was better and definitely benefited from returning to the spy agency side of things, but it's still not up to the levels of the first 3 series. The lack of Woodhouse in particular was a huge void (probably my favourite character </3 ).

Now rewatching the first three series, which may well be my favourite series of any show. Really wish more people watched it

My mum used to listen to the radio series when there was still more than one Archer left.

Gavin Chipper wrote:Also, as this series of Peep Show progresses, the more I think it's actually pretty weak.

Nothing special about tonight's episode either. This series has got "forgettable" written all over it. Very little time left to turn it around. Well, it's one episode isn't it? Even changing the theme tune back to the proper one for the last episode is unlikely to save it.

I've quite enjoyed this series but I'm not sure how much of that is down to me knowing it's the last one and wanting it to be funny. Nah, fuck that, it's been funny, it made me laugh out loud loads tonight.

Gavin Chipper wrote:Also, as this series of Peep Show progresses, the more I think it's actually pretty weak.

Nothing special about tonight's episode either. This series has got "forgettable" written all over it. Very little time left to turn it around. Well, it's one episode isn't it? Even changing the theme tune back to the proper one for the last episode is unlikely to save it.

I've quite enjoyed this series but I'm not sure how much of that is down to me knowing it's the last one and wanting it to be funny. Nah, fuck that, it's been funny, it made me laugh out loud loads tonight.

I also like Toast.

I also enjoyed last night's episode. Hadn't enjoyed the last few, but that was entertaining. The Apprentice was also brilliant.

proud tiara owner and annoying publicity person who tells you to click links to the the FOCAL website.

Gavin Chipper wrote:Also, as this series of Peep Show progresses, the more I think it's actually pretty weak.

Nothing special about tonight's episode either. This series has got "forgettable" written all over it. Very little time left to turn it around. Well, it's one episode isn't it? Even changing the theme tune back to the proper one for the last episode is unlikely to save it.

I've quite enjoyed this series but I'm not sure how much of that is down to me knowing it's the last one and wanting it to be funny. Nah, fuck that, it's been funny, it made me laugh out loud loads tonight.

I think there were a fair few funny moments, but it's not just about how much it makes you laugh. It's not a sketch show. I like good storylines, and they've been lacking. This series is going nowhere interesting and the individual episodes have gone nowhere interesting. Also Super Hans used to be an occasional character. He was a bit crazy and you'd look forward to the episodes where he appeared. Now he's just there all the time doing basically fuck all. It's like when Johnson originally came in as a single-episode character. Then because he was popular they kept wheeling him out. But things go downhill fast when you do that.

Peep Show (series 9) - Still not really sure what I thought of the ending. Didn't think it was great, but could it really have finished any other way than with their lives continuing to be disappointing? (Except if they'd just finished it with the wedding episode, which is the best episode.)
Scream Queens (season 1) - Mean Girls meets American Psycho meets Corby levels of verbal savagery = one of the best things I've ever watched, but anyone over the age of 25 would hate it (wrongly).
Arrested Development (seasons 1-3) - Enjoyed a lot. Series 3 must be one of the best turnarounds from 'fucking shit' at the beginning to 'fucking amazing' in the last episode. Started season 4 but it was a bit of a chore. 20 minutes was the perfect length! (eyyy)

Oh, and that episode of Come Dine With Me that went viral with the guy who lost his shit because he didn't win. Excellent.

proud tiara owner and annoying publicity person who tells you to click links to the the FOCAL website.

Jennifer Steadman wrote:Peep Show (series 9) - Still not really sure what I thought of the ending. Didn't think it was great, but could it really have finished any other way than with their lives continuing to be disappointing? (Except if they'd just finished it with the wedding episode, which is the best episode.)
Scream Queens (season 1) - Mean Girls meets American Psycho meets Corby levels of verbal savagery = one of the best things I've ever watched, but anyone over the age of 25 would hate it (wrongly).
Arrested Development (seasons 1-3) - Enjoyed a lot. Series 3 must be one of the best turnarounds from 'fucking shit' at the beginning to 'fucking amazing' in the last episode. Started season 4 but it was a bit of a chore. 20 minutes was the perfect length! (eyyy)

Oh, and that episode of Come Dine With Me that went viral with the guy who lost his shit because he didn't win. Excellent.

I didn't like the ending to Peep Show, but the rest of the series is pretty strong, and definitely better than the preceding couple of series. Fitting that neither Mark nor Jeremy got what they want. Also, persist with Arrested Development season 4, it requires a bigger investment than the previous ones but it's well worth it.

Right my favourite tv shows
Fargo Season 2...even better than season 1.
The man in the high castle.....brilliant Philip K dick adaptation
Inside no. 9 ...dark comedy with one episode The Twelve days of Christine, Jaw droppingly good.
I would go as far to say if youy watch this and are not moved to tears you are one hard bastard !!!

Masterchef (I like most of the finalists)
Bake Off: Crème de la Crème (very up its own arse, but some of the stuff they make is amazing)
RuPaul's Drag Race (so many fashion choices I aspire to)
Pokémon (...I needed something that was 20 minutes per episode to watch during revision breaks)

Will probably start watching Breaking Bad and/or Making A Murderer after exams.

proud tiara owner and annoying publicity person who tells you to click links to the the FOCAL website.

Jennifer Steadman wrote:Bake Off: Crème de la Crème (very up its own arse, but some of the stuff they make is amazing)

Having only tried one episode, I can't claim to have seen exactly how good some of the stuff they produce is.
However, partly due to up-arsed-ness, partly due to Tom Kerridge being a terrible host, and partly due to the fact that I've watched one season of Top Chef: Just Desserts, there's no way I could get into it.

Would definitely recommend TC:JD. Just looked it up and the season we watched was Season 1, and surprised to see they only made two. But the stuff they were creating was INSANE, from what I saw of BO:CDLC the standard was nowhere near as high (particularly evident in the showpiece stuff), plus TC:JD being an American show was just that much more polished, exciting, and dramatic.

Matt Morrison wrote:Cinema club at work did the X-Files reboot (mostly shit)

As you know, I watched the new series of X-Files as well. I didn't think it was actually shit, but there was only one episode that I thought was particularly good - the Rhys Darby one, as we discussed.

They've been repeating the entire run of X-Files on Spike (channel 31 on Freeview) and they're into the second series now. I think most episodes are pretty reasonable. I used to watch it when it was on originally, but stopped at some point (can't remember exactly when - but I'll see when I stop recognising episodes) because I think it started going a bit shit. I always felt the standalone "monster of the week" episodes were much better than the government conspiracy ones and generally when they tried to progress the overall story. It's a shame it was like that, because I'm not against an overall story arc. It just happened that it was a bit shit in the X-Files.

As for other programmes, did anyone else watch Flowers last week on Channel 4? Very strange, but not overall bad.

Matt Morrison wrote:As for other programmes, did anyone else watch Flowers last week on Channel 4? Very strange, but not overall bad.

I don't watch a lot of telly these days but I thought that was really good, so much so that I might have to obtain it (in a wholly legal manner, of course) because I'm sure I missed some stuff first time around.

- RuPaul season 6: great series - even better than season 3: better lip sync battles; best Snatch Game character ever; stronger set of queens overall. No more series on Netflix though, boo.

- Making A Murderer: only got one episode to go. Would've preferred it to be more objective, as I wonder what evidence has been left out in order to get us onside with the accused, but even with that in mind, the police incompetence/corruption was undeniable and eye-opening. And everything involving Brendan was utterly heartbreaking

- House of Cards: watched the first ep. Not convinced, but seeing as I'm running out of stuff to watch on Netflix, I'll probably keep going.

- Breaking Bad: watched most of season 1 (with my dad, which is pretty hilarious because he's vehemently anti-drugs but really enjoys it). Very enjoyable, *and* I wasn't paying attention to social media when it was actually on TV, so am thoroughly unspoiled

proud tiara owner and annoying publicity person who tells you to click links to the the FOCAL website.

What did you reckon then? I've no problem with the hosts and think the new format is quite interesting (it presumably guarantees nine fights per episode, barring dropouts) although - even just on the evidence from last night's episode - it looks as though could produce some unexpected results, depending on who fights who, and when.

I've tried to keep that spoiler-free, in case folks haven't seen it yet, but if there's interest, I'll do a dedicated thread (containing spoilers).

What did you reckon then? I've no problem with the hosts and think the new format is quite interesting (it presumably guarantees nine fights per episode, barring dropouts) although - even just on the evidence from last night's episode - it looks as though could produce some unexpected results, depending on who fights who, and when.

I've tried to keep that spoiler-free, in case folks haven't seen it yet, but if there's interest, I'll do a dedicated thread (containing spoilers).

Well, it's interesting that they spent some time telling us that things like materials have advanced in the last 12 years or so, because on the surface it looks like the robots are no better than they were before.

I'm not convinced by the format. Having the league bit just means that the final is always guaranteed to be a match-up we've already seen. And if they're going to spend all that time giving losing robots a chance to carry on, then they shouldn't have that quick elimination thing in the first round. It seems a bit odd that you can go out straight away with one thing going wrong, but if you get past that, you're automatically in for the long haul, however shit you are.

Also, I've never really been a fan of the house robots or the pit. They detract from the battle.

I also think the scoring is odd. You get 3 for a knockout, 2 for a points win, and nothing for losing. I would probably award 1 for losing but surviving.

But anyway, it's all minor tweaks. It's largely the same as ever - both the show and the robots.

Gavin Chipper wrote:And if they're going to spend all that time giving losing robots a chance to carry on, then they shouldn't have that quick elimination thing in the first round. It seems a bit odd that you can go out straight away with one thing going wrong, but if you get past that, you're automatically in for the long haul, however shit you are.

Can't argue with that; it's a pretty bizarre system when you come to think about it; perhaps it was just the novelty that I liked.

I like that the new arena seemingly doesn't allow robots to be ejected by flippers or momentum weapons; whilst it was always quite spectacular, it got a bit too easy towards the end of the previous run.

The main trouble is (mild spoilers follow) the pit release. I don't think there was a single fight where the pit wasn't employed and it's always been my bugbear about Robot Wars, in that it's nearly always such a disappointing ending to a match, because robots dumped in the pit are often still completely active. If there was a button inside the pit to make it go back up, then it would be fair enough. I know it's been a feature from the start and builders should try to account for it, but actually doing that (and retaining a robot that is effective in the arena) is almost impossible. I noticed last night that the pit isn't as deep as it once seemed to be, which could mean that a decent flipper dumped in upside-down could conceivably jump back out, but it's a bit unlikely. The only robots I can remember ever having anti-pit devices were Tornado (with a big wire-frame attachment to make itself too big to go in the pit) and Cassius 2 (with a pneumatic spear that would fire it out (frustratingly, this device would have worked but depended on the robot falling in at the right angle, which it didn't).

JimBentley wrote:The only robots I can remember ever having anti-pit devices were Tornado (with a big wire-frame attachment to make itself to big to go in the pit) and Cassius 2 (with a pneumatic spear that would fire it out (frustratingly, this device would have worked but depended on the robot falling in at the right angle, which it didn't).

I always thought that Tornado's frame was more of an anti-Razer feature, rather than anti pit, as unless their wheelbase is wider than the pit itself, they could be nudged into position and have all their wheels dangling over the pit a bit like Wile E Coyote.

I too watched and loved the new Robot Wars, and I'm also pissed off with the dependence on the pit (and probably for the same reason). A much better compromise would be to have the pit only lower for 15 seconds, after which, if a robot hasn't fallen in it, it automatically rises again unless/until someone hits the release again.

Also, Dara needs to loosen up, the difference between him and Craig Charles is not encouraging.

Ben Wilson wrote:I always thought that Tornado's frame was more of an anti-Razer feature, rather than anti pit, as unless their wheelbase is wider than the pit itself, they could be nudged into position and have all their wheels dangling over the pit a bit like Wile E Coyote.

It was indeed, but the reason I mentioned it is because (unless my memory's gone wrong) that's precisely what happened in that fight (i.e. Tornado ended up being lodged over the pit by Razer, balancing on the frame but wheels spinning helplessly, going nowhere, yet but were still awarded the match).

OK, don't get me wrong, it was good to see robots fighting back on TV again. But there so many things that were a bit shit about it.

Don't like the new arena particularly, the flipper firing at will is irksome, and reminds me of Battlebots, the pit is rubbish when it doesn't have a slow ominous descent (though agree about the idea of having one that can be raised as well), and the arena spike was brought back after 17 years ago when it was decided that it was too hard to be consistently fair with it and it ruined too many matches... so they've brought it back.

The robots were not... particularly impressive. I don't think there's anything I haven't seen before - mostly from America, but some things from the UK. The league system could potentially be unfair, as it could end up giving walkovers to teams based on when they're due to face a robot if something destroys it earlier on. If they want to keep X number in, do it annihilator style with everyone in and one going every 3 minutes.

The house robots added nothing. And why if they have 4 CPZs, do they not travel between them? If you're only going to use 2, in 2 specific corners, paint 2 on. Making them 3 times heavier does not make them improved. Bigger is not always better.

The crowd didn't appear to have much interaction with what was going on, indeed I'm convinced they were using canned laughter at one pont, which is shocking. Dara was shocking to begin with, but did seem to pick up a bit later on, so I'm going to be generous and say maybe as he wandered around the pits, he got to know some of the teams and started to feel a bit more comfortable with bantering.

Angela on the other hand was dull as dishwater, seemed to have no real knowledge or understanding of what was going on, and seemed incredibly teeth and tits. It was like having that horseface Julia Reed back because Phillippa was up the duff again.

Jonathan Pearce seemed to have been toned down, there was no vim and vigour to his commentary, it was just like he was commentating on a fairly average football match.

So yeah... I will keep watching, because the battles were mostly pretty good. I like robots. But I'm not in the least bit encouraged by how they're doing it. There's no... bounce. There's no flow. It basically felt like they thought they were rebooting Techno Games and only realised they'd got the wrong show halfway through planning.

Zarte Siempre wrote:The house robots added nothing...3 times heavier does not make them improved. Bigger is not always better.

I think the house robots in the early days were useful; if you think about it they only had defensive weapons (Matilda's tusks, Shunt's scoop, Dead Metal's claws) and the offensive weapons that they did have (chainsaws and circular saws) were (I think) employed because whilst they looked good - i.e. caused loads of sparks to fly - they would cause only cosmetic damage to a well-made bot. Their role was more that of decoupling robots that had got wedged together, or wedged themselves onto stuff, generally keep things moving during a fight, then if necessary clearing things up afterwards.

Possibly the rot set in when Matilda was equipped with the rear flywheel, which I always thought was grossly unfair, as it was just too powerful; I can remember a number of robots in the latter couple of series being either completely destroyed or thrown out of the arena just from one hit. I think it was only about 20kg then and it's 35kg now, which only makes it worse; I wouldn't be surprised if a few fights are decided by Matilda's flywheel, rather than what the other robots do. But hey, we'll see.

Oh, one other thing that hasn't changed from the original run are the spoilers in the opening credits. I know they need to cobble something together for an intro but they do tend to give away the results of the upcoming fights (or at least, it's easy to infer the results from the clips).

Gavin Chipper wrote:I'm not convinced by the format. Having the league bit just means that the final is always guaranteed to be a match-up we've already seen. And if they're going to spend all that time giving losing robots a chance to carry on, then they shouldn't have that quick elimination thing in the first round. It seems a bit odd that you can go out straight away with one thing going wrong, but if you get past that, you're automatically in for the long haul, however shit you are.

Yes, a thousand times this. It really baffles me how shit formats like this manage to come about. It really isn't that hard to think of a better format. Not saying that just because Razer got pitted and I'm a massive Razer fangirl.

JimBentley wrote:

Ben Wilson wrote:I always thought that Tornado's frame was more of an anti-Razer feature, rather than anti pit, as unless their wheelbase is wider than the pit itself, they could be nudged into position and have all their wheels dangling over the pit a bit like Wile E Coyote.

It was indeed, but the reason I mentioned it is because (unless my memory's gone wrong) that's precisely what happened in that fight (i.e. Tornado ended up being lodged over the pit by Razer, balancing on the frame but wheels spinning helplessly, going nowhere, yet but were still awarded the match).

Without exaggeration, the greatest travesty of all time in televised robot warfare. Not saying that because I'm a massive Razer fangirl. It really was disgusting.

Zarte Siempre wrote:OK, don't get me wrong, it was good to see robots fighting back on TV again. But there so many things that were a bit shit about it.

Don't like the new arena particularly, the flipper firing at will is irksome, and reminds me of Battlebots, the pit is rubbish when it doesn't have a slow ominous descent (though agree about the idea of having one that can be raised as well), and the arena spike was brought back after 17 years ago when it was decided that it was too hard to be consistently fair with it and it ruined too many matches... so they've brought it back.

The robots were not... particularly impressive. I don't think there's anything I haven't seen before - mostly from America, but some things from the UK. The league system could potentially be unfair, as it could end up giving walkovers to teams based on when they're due to face a robot if something destroys it earlier on. If they want to keep X number in, do it annihilator style with everyone in and one going every 3 minutes.

The house robots added nothing. And why if they have 4 CPZs, do they not travel between them? If you're only going to use 2, in 2 specific corners, paint 2 on. Making them 3 times heavier does not make them improved. Bigger is not always better.

The crowd didn't appear to have much interaction with what was going on, indeed I'm convinced they were using canned laughter at one pont, which is shocking. Dara was shocking to begin with, but did seem to pick up a bit later on, so I'm going to be generous and say maybe as he wandered around the pits, he got to know some of the teams and started to feel a bit more comfortable with bantering.

Angela on the other hand was dull as dishwater, seemed to have no real knowledge or understanding of what was going on, and seemed incredibly teeth and tits. It was like having that horseface Julia Reed back because Phillippa was up the duff again.

Jonathan Pearce seemed to have been toned down, there was no vim and vigour to his commentary, it was just like he was commentating on a fairly average football match.

So yeah... I will keep watching, because the battles were mostly pretty good. I like robots. But I'm not in the least bit encouraged by how they're doing it. There's no... bounce. There's no flow. It basically felt like they thought they were rebooting Techno Games and only realised they'd got the wrong show halfway through planning.

I hope they stop tarnishing my childhood soon

Hopefully me breaking this to you will help ease the pain: you were never going to like it.

If you were the age you are now when you watched the original series you would've realised that it too was a bit camp and shit.. overblown, with canned audience reactions. That's what made it great in many ways. I only know all this because I was in the same boat, but I came in with an open mind and enjoyed how different it was.

Jon O'Neill wrote:Hopefully me breaking this to you will help ease the pain: you were never going to like it.

If you were the age you are now when you watched the original series you would've realised that it too was a bit camp and shit.. overblown, with canned audience reactions. That's what made it great in many ways. I only know all this because I was in the same boat, but I came in with an open mind and enjoyed how different it was.

I was really convinced it'd all be grand though. Like, a lot of people went into this WANTING to hate it. I thought Dara might be the wrong choice, but otherwise I was optimistic. The one redeeming thought atm, is that Series 1 of Robot Wars was shit. They didn't get it right for a little while, and so I'm prepared to give this a chance to bed in. Because watching robots fight is worth it. Worst comes the absolute worst, I'll watch it on mute.

Zarte Siempre wrote:The one redeeming thought atm, is that Series 1 of Robot Wars was shit. They didn't get it right for a little while, and so I'm prepared to give this a chance to bed in.

Series 1 was shit because everyone was effectively designing in a vacuum, plus it was stymied by an abysmal qualification system and Jeremy Clarkson sucked the life out of what was left. Series 2 would have been a revelation whatever happened, just because prospective roboteers had an idea of what they might be up against; fixing the format and getting Craig Charles in were just bonuses.

So just out of interest, what would you like to see? My minor gripes above aside, I thought the reboot was about as good as could be expected.